Why Disciplined Thinking Can Stall Growth

And What to Do About It

If business growth were a sport, Discipline would be the reliable, rule-following coach who ensures everyone sticks to the playbook. But here’s the problem—what happens when the game itself changes? What happens when you're 40 points behind and it's late in the game? The Disciplined mindset keeps running the same plays, even if they’re leading to failure.

But in the business world, failure isn’t just a lost game; it’s millions of dollars burned while chasing a strategy that no longer works.

We recently analyzed a company that had been around for four years. They had diligently focused on selling to 10,000 customers, each signup costing them an average of $600. But here’s where it gets painful: 95% of those customers never even used the product. Another 200 gave it a quick try and bailed. Only 300 were actual, profitable users who loved the product. And yet the company kept pushing the same tired sales strategy like a broken record, hoping for a different outcome. How exhausting!

Why would someone keep using a strategy that does not work?

This is Disciplined Thinking at its worst: following the process it knows because “that’s the way we’ve always done it,” even when the numbers scream, “Stop! Try something new!” It’s business superstition akin to medieval doctors blood letting to rebuild strength and stamina. And it’s why the Discipline mindset belongs in execution—not strategic reinvention.

Let's look at Apple.

Steve Jobs possessed a deep understanding of the S-Curve, the universal pattern of business growth. For example, when the iPod peaked, Steve didn’t just optimize it further. He understood that the company was at a crucial moment where it could reinvent itself or decline into irrelevance over time. That’s when he chose to jump the curve—again and again.

That’s why the iPhone, iTunes and iPad were all part of a larger symphony, building relationship between products under the brand of Apple. Steve was able to accomplish this remarkable feat because he was a Results-Systems Thinker—meaning he could see all the moving parts and how they connected, while still remaining obsessed with outcome—not process.

Most Results-Systems Thinkers are able to operate with six times the efficiency of their Disciplined counterparts, who often get left behind while focusing on A/B testing, careful analysis, change orders, and following the rules of what was. They tend to get caught up in the bureaucratic red tape instead of focusing on results, tragically blind to how all the parts make up the whole. To them, it’s about extracting efficiencies, not driving value.

A great example of this? Tim Cook’s Apple, which now leans heavily on Discipline Thinking, forever squeezing whatever revenue remains from existing products while failing to create anything new that might be able to jump the curve.

Google? Same problem. They’re focused on extracting value from search ads while missing AI’s breakout potential.

What about Dish Network? Predictably unpredictable. They’ve had interesting but short periods of growth followed by steeper declines.

And that’s the difference between innovation and Discipline.

Discipline favors consistency, as seen with ADT, GM, and Unisys—companies that haven’t been viewed as innovative in ages.

And while innovation requires agility, risk-taking, and embracing change, Discipline exhibits cognitive rigidity, forever married to the established rules, frameworks and procedures they already know instead of branching out into more creative methodologies that might benefit growth. To a Disciplined mind, deviation is risk, not opportunity; and once they’ve chosen a preferred strategy, they will resist abandoning it, even when everything points to change.

That’s why they’re great for businesses that are stable, established, and steady; not for businesses that need a paradigm shift or S-curve jump. Discipline can help you save 20%; but they can’t save your company by doing something creative, innovative, or new.

More often than not, Discipline will just keep running the same play—over and over—until the game (and the money) is lost.

It’s very consistent, but it doesn’t lead to growth or innovation.

Find your next Results-Systems Thinker by giving us a call. We’ll help you discover what’s holding your company back then show a clear path forward for jumping the curve. Visit StealthDog.com to learn more.